There's nothing wrong with that idea at all Epi however I think you will still have to use a bit of top-up water. Let's consider a 1.050 brew where you want a "Volume into Fermentor" of 19 L (5gal). Let's also assume a 90 minute boil and a pot diameter of 34 cm (13.4 in) and that you use a hop sock to minimise trub. Here's what your numbers will look like in the draft BIABAcus if you did a full-volume mash...As you already know, your kettle is too small to do this. While sparging in the manner you describe will solve the 'Mash Volume' exceeding your kettle size it does not solve the fact that the "Volume into Kettle" is too high to do safely without boiling over.

Here's how I'd handle it...

Firstly forget your traditional mashing ratios. Concentrate on putting as much water as you can into your mash. Efficiency is mainly affected by how much water contacts the grain, not when. So, in this scenario, I would sparge with 5 L (1.85 G)and top up during the boil with 2 L (1.3 G) as soon as is possible. Now your volumes will look like this....If you're wondering why the numbers between VIK and EOBV-A don't add up, remember that you will be adding those 2 L in during the boil.

Also...

Remember that there are several different types of efficiency measurements. Here's what the BIABacus predicts for this brew... See how EIK and EOBE are identical and are much higher than EIF? The most important efficiency measurements to focus on are EIK and EOBE as these figures are undistorted by kettle trub. EIK and EOBE tell you if you have a mashing problem. A low EIF however could mean you have a mashing problem, a trub management problem or both.

I'm assuming that when you mentiuoned 50%, you meant EIF. The only situation where a 50% EIF would be normal is in the case of an extremely high gravity brew so there defintiely is a problem.

I think if you go with the above figures, assuming I have made the right assumptions on the gravity brew you will be doing and your evaporatin rate, your figures will improve dramatically.

Let me know if you have any questions on the above. As usual, I have probably written too much in one hit*.


PP

* I actually have more to say (believe it or not) on how to go about sparging easily with the equipment you have. You'll be able to avoid putting a spigot on your kettle.

Are my eyes deceiving me or are those figures also being displayed in the King's measurement system? Woot! Can't wait for that puppy to be released to the masses.

[Off-topic to thughes...]

Aaargh, it's a bit annoying Todd as while they are displayed in the King's measurements, you'll still have to input litres etc.

stux actually got the whole ball rolling with being able to input either metric or imperial or US ages ago. His work there stayed with the BIABacus development until we realised that anything that involved a macro seemed to cause a heap of trouble for a significant percentage of betas depending on their platform and software version.

That's one of the many annoying/frustrating things that have depressed us in the BIABacus - a great feature like that gone! In fact, a failure of macros lead to the whole BIABacus having to be scrapped, re-designed and re-written from scratch since about April this year. What fun!

It's mainly all good though...

The good thing though is that whether you from the US gives a recipe to me in metric land or vice versa, you basically only have to change a few numbers. If writing a recipe from scratch, and you are from the US there will be a bit more fiddling though. Unfortunately it is the best we can do for now.

The great thing though is that now that the basic structure/thinking is sound, if anyone wants to put the time into developing the BIABAcus, making it more versatile is relatively simple. (For example, the damn thing even already works for traditional brewers!) Changing it to a US input with metric display would only take a few weeks.

Best thing though would be to see a team here help Kostas be able to turn it into a real program before other buggers pinch all the revolutionary features. And, there are heaps of these!!!

Fingers crossed that members here and other brewers will be able to over-look the obvious limitations and enjoy the revolutionary side. Personally I have no idea what will happen.


PP

I'm trying to force myself to get with the program and go metric.....so far I've configured BeerSmith to use grams as the default measurment for hops!

Maybe the "metric or imperial or US" thing is why we used "0.0%" of grains in a recipe.

So you can make your own Pounds, Kilos, Stones or whatever.

If I had a "Drain" on my Kettle, It would make the "Sparge" easier.

Drain, sparge, pull the bag, add the 1st runnings. Simple.

PP, I liked this one, but changed to hops, a few times to the ones I prefer!!!

http://www.brew-monkey.com/recipes/html ... bustus.htm

joshua: You will be able to put in percents for the grains so that's okay. Very impressed Todd is learning metric .

Epimetheus: Yep, the crystals and roasts can be steeped after the mash. For some strange reason, roasts (not sure on crystals), seem to come out stronger when you do this.

The thing I was going to mention above was to avoid using your bottling bucket and spigot for the sparging if you can. There's lots of lactobacillus in a mash and any sort of tap is the perfect place for them to hang out. Perhaps instead, just use a normal white, food-grade bucket. Pull your bag from the main kettle and dump it in the bucket. Add your steeping grains and sparge water to that. Let it sit for ten minutes and then drain the bag.

Also maybe think twice before putting a spigot on your kettle. Sometimes these can prove to be more work than a syphon by the time you clean them etc. A search of my posts with "tap," "spigot," "ball-valve," "infection" or "cleaning" as keywords should pull up some of the things to at least be aware of. A good syphon set-up can actually have a lot more advantages than a tap so maybe think how you can improve your current syphon set-up. I always moan about taps/spigots .

That's great to hear that you are loving the 'depth' of your first batch. Good on you!

Also can't believe you have a local maltster . Hope joshua's porter recipe above helps you out.


PP

I learned to convert between grams and ounces way back when I was a youth.

Todd I'm still using the same scale that I bought in 1971!